Revolutionizing Education

Web Log. Weblog. We blog. Blog.

Blogs are a mainstay of what was called web 2.0. Early internet was dominated by bloated commercial sites like buy.com or pets.com (remember those?)

Sometime around 2005 new stuff started happening. People started making journals online for others to read. They were dubbed blogs, which is the truncated form of Web Log.

This started the personalization of the internet. The average Joe or Jane could be front page Yahoo! News for their discussion of last night’s game, or political viewpoints. Other bloggers, like The Strobist, was just passing along what they know. (The Strobist just told everyone what he wished he had known when he started in photojournalism. He eventually quit his day job because he had the most read photography blog in the world.)

How is this useful to me?

Finding cool stuff

Reading blogs about content you’re interested in is fun! Lets face it, not everyone wants to hear you ramble on about your warcraftsecret nerdy obsession. But thru blogs, we can connect with people online who share the same passions.

For me, Photography Blogs like strobist.com was an invaluable resource as I taught myself photography. I’d spend hours reading from National Geographic Photographer Joe McNally, Chase Jarvis, Jeremy Cowert, Wildlife Photographer Moose Peterson (yes, his real name is moose..and he’s a wildlife photographer), Larry’s Cheap Shots blog, and my very own 1000 dirty faces blog. Where I processed my photography learning while trying to photograph messy kids. I think I made it to 37 before I quit…not even close.

A quick google search reveals some top blogs such as Wine, or some dude that lost his job and now makes $50,000 a month and tells you what he does every day by blogging about it. Or a blog about how-to blog. But I digress…

It’s all about the meta.

Blogging is a way to think about what you’re thinking about. That sounds redundant, I know. We walk out the door after school and want to think about things other than school. But by allowing ourselves a few moments to reflect on what is occurring is critical to keeping those brain cells alive. Blogging about your subject matter and pedagogy – practical and theoretical, is a way to process what we do on a daily basis and reflect back on it.

Right now, are you imaging those reflections professors made us do all those years ago?

Blogging is like that but way less useless. In fact, if we can connect with others we can then start a conversation that is the real goal of blogging. Making connections.

Finding other’s Blogs

Google searches can help reveal other bloggers that will have information relevant to your professional or personal interest. Whether it’s grade level specific, discipline specific, or tech specific, it’s out there. Someone is already blogging about it.

Sometimes, we need some inspiration, or we need to see that some people are crying coping the same way we are and that they have the same issues we have.

Finding a good blog can be an invaluable tool to helping you hone your craft.

Blogs are just one way to connect with like-minded individuals. Podcasts and vlogs (yes, you guessed it, Video Logs) as well as twitter and pintrest are great ways to take in content.

-Mr. G

And…If you see a need for a . , ; “ “ ( ) . They’re There Their, . I , . that i may have missed. Feel free to place those in the correct spot. (click on my extra punctuation and drag it to the correct spot. Go ahead, it’s fun. You know you want to.)

Hope to see you at my next post: “Twitter, it’s used by more people than just our president.”